Social Media

New Slang: Find Out What Those Crazy Kids Are Saying [APPS]

The web has been blamed for the degradation of the English language — imho, idk wtf da h8ers mean. No, seriously, there's no denying that the advent of texting and Internet speak has heralded a bevy of acronyms, some designed by crafty teens so as to elude their parents' prying eyes (remember "pos," or "parent over shoulder"?). Well, Teen Chat Decoder has the remedy for any parent suffering from Internet illiteracy.

This web app isn't the handsomest lad of the block — to be sure — and it's not exactly designed to amuse and delight (it's more about keeping your kid safe online), but you can definitely while away a goodly number of minutes decoding an array of baffling slang (for anyone who has had to Google stuff like "ftw," "pyt" and "otp," this could be a pretty useful tool).

Right now, the app has a pretty good store of terms — even a few odd ones we've never seen before ("LOLLZ" means "Laugh out Loud Literally Zapped," huh?) — and you can add anything it may be lacking.

What do you think of apps like this? Will they actually help parents keep kids safe online, or are they simply interesting diversions?[img credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML]

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